Beauty from within
by JB Rose
Summary: Grandma Mazur is in Heaven, Ranger is in Miami and her apartment building has been burnt to the ground. With an upcoming wedding and a broken heart will Stephanie allow herself to see the beauty from within...
1. Chapter 1

**I would like to say a very BIG thank you to Financeable who's beautifully written stories gave me the courage to try and write my own and to FairTaxGirl who agreed to edit it for me. **

**Disclaimer: I am not Janet, there for I don't own any of the characters. I do however plan to play with them a little. **

Stephanie's POV

It took every last bit of control not to run into my burning apartment. The fact that Hector was holding me to his chest as Bobby tried to give me a sedative was another reason. Ram currently had Rex wrapped up in his coat watching with the rest of us as my apartment building slowly burned to the ground. For once it truly wasn't my fault. One of my elderly neighbours had fallen asleep and had left their gas stove on. Apart from that no one actually knew how the fire had actually started.

I felt the needle sink into my skin just as the roof collapsed. I watched as everything I owned burned to the ground through hazy eyes. I slow found myself starting to lose consciousness as Bobby's voice filled my ears. "Tank has given us permission to take her up to the cabin for a few days." Those were the last words I heard before I fell under the power of the sedative.

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I had no idea how long I slept before waking up in a strange bed. I didn't bother moving from my warm heaven, letting the last month roll over me.

It all started during one of my weekly dinner visits to my parent's house.

"I don't see why you can't just settle down with Joe." My mum began. "It's not like you are getting any younger, Stephanie."

It took everything in me not to bang my head against the table. Joe, my on-again and now definitely off-again boyfriend, and I had called it quits after yet another full blown argument after my latest skip blew up my car just days before. The thing is my mother knew this because I had to listen to her 100 missed calls on my answering machine. I wished that my Grandma Mazur was still with us. Unfortunately, she had joined Grandpa Mazur in heaven more than two months ago. I missed her more than anything, especially on days like today.

"Mum you know that is never going to happen. I don't want to get married again, in fact ever again! Look at what happened with Dickie."

Of course that meant I had to listen to her tell me that was entirely my fault and if only I knew how to cook and be a proper wife then Dickie wouldn't have needed to go elsewhere. I ended up leaving before dessert and I haven't spoken with her since.

A week later I found out that my best friend, and one of the men that held a part of my heart, Ranger, had permanently moved to Miami. After Scog, Ranger wanted to be more involved in Julie's life and he couldn't do that very well living in Trenton. My spidery senses told me there was more to it but I wasn't up to arguing with Tank.

After hearing that piece of news, I slowly found myself fading away. Everyone whoever truly understood my dreams had one by one faded away. Lula was the only one left but even she wasn't around as much as she used to be. She was getting ready to marry Tank and had agreed to take a step back from bounty hunting.

I didn't realise that I had started to cry, let alone made any form of noise, until I suddenly found myself sandwiched between Bobby and Lester.

"Shh, it's okay, Beautiful, let it all out," Lester whispered in my ear.

I have no idea how long I remained wrapped up in their arms, but by the time I had finished crying, Hector and Ram had both joined us and I was surrounded by my Merry Men. The only one that was missing was Cal. I must have said something out loud because Lester's voice floated through the silence

"Cal, will be here at sunset, Beautiful. We're all on leave until further notice."

I slowly sat up before using the blanket to wipe the wetness from my face. I knew I probably looked like a mess what with me being covered in ash from the fire last night as well as snot from my little break down. It was Bobby that came to my rescue

"Lester picked you up some stuff on his way here. Why don't you go have a shower and meet us out back when you're ready?"

I nodded my head while Bobby helped me out of the tangle of bed sheets and Merry Men before pushing me towards what I assumed was the bathroom. After answering Mother Nature's call, I made my way slowly to the shower. I couldn't stop the smile that crossed my face as my eyes landed on the shower stuff Lester had brought me. A week into my downward spiral, after finding out about Ranger, Lester had found me shower gel that smelled like Tasty Cakes.

I had no idea how long I stayed in the shower, letting the sweet smell bring me comfort, but I knew sooner rather than later I would have to get out and face my guys. Wait, are they my guys? The more I thought about it I came to the conclusion that yeah, they are my guys.

Lester was always there making me smile. He even came to Grandma Mazur's funeral and gave a little speech that made everyone laugh. I knew she would have been happy about that. Bobby was always there to fix me up if I ever had a scrape. It then occurred to me that Hector, Ram and Cal were always in the background somewhere helping me or just giving me their support.

The weeks after the incident with my mother, and Ranger leaving, one of them would always come over and make sure I was all right. Hector even went so far as to learn English so he could have conversations with me. On more than one occasion, I awoke to find Bobby and Lester had crawled into bed with me.

Getting out the shower, I found someone had brought me one of their shirts and a towel. Holding it up to my nose I couldn't stop myself from letting out a low sigh as the Ram's smell hit me. After taking some time to make myself somewhat presentable, finding a change of clean boxers, that from the size I took to be Hector's, I followed my nose to the back deck.

It was Ram who noticed me first and opened his arms inviting me to come and climb onto his lap. Letting a smirk cross my face, I did a small running jump causing him to let out a low laugh before he placed a kiss on the top of my unruly hair. Hector let out a low laugh causing me to give him a look of shock causing him to laugh even more. In retaliation I stuck my tongue out him causing Lester to speak up

"Beautiful, unless you want to show us what you can do with that tongue of yours I suggest that you put it back in your mouth."

I rolled my eyes at him before sticking my tongue back out at him again squealing as Lester tried to bite it. This caused the others to laugh at our antics. It was then I noticed that Bobby held God's best ever creations in his hands, coffee and Boston Cream buns.

"Honey I am going to put them down slowly, just don't attack me. Well not unless you want me to attack you back."

I tilted my head to one side before pulling out my sex kitten voice. "I might take you up on that offer if you're not careful."

I had to bite my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing at the look of lust that crossed over Bobby's face before he could stop it.

Two cups of coffee, several heavenly Boston Creams and four very aroused men later, it occurred to me that I had no idea where I was. As if his ESP kicked in, Lester wiggled in his seat before he spoke.

"This is actually my home beautiful. I brought it years ago and try to come up here as much as possible." Okay that explains who's house it was, but not the where part.

"We are just outside Rochester beautiful. I come up here on my time off. It means I can get away from everything and just relax. Bobby and Cal also have keys to the place and use it time from time as well."

I nodded my head before leaning back so I was cradled in Ram's arms. We sat around most of the day talking about my latest skips as well as Tanks and Lula's upcoming wedding.

"I am just happy that Connie and I managed to talk her out of leopard print bridesmaid dresses. Instead, we managed to convince her that a deep red would do. However, the dresses are skin tight and the low cut means it will take everything Connie and I have not to fall out of them."

I found myself having to bite my lip yet again. This time it was to stop a wanting moan from slipping out as I felt how much Ram liked the sound of my dress. In fact, the way that the others were wiggling in their seats Ram wasn't the only one.

We) sat on the back deck overlooking the lake. It wasn't until my stomach growled that I noticed the sun was setting and that the beast could smell pizza. 

A moment later, Cal walked out holding at least eight pizzas causing the beast to let out another growl. Before I could even think what I was doing, I jumped off Ram's knee and threw myself at Cal, or more importantly the food causing, everyone to laugh.

"Missed you too Bomber. If I had known that bringing you food would get you to jump me I would have done so much earlier."

I found myself blushing at his words before I stood on my tip toes and placed a kiss on his flaming skull tattoo. I've always wanted to get a tattoo and was hoping that Cal would come with me to hold my hand. I've heard horror stories about the pain but, at the same time, I've also heard that it could be quite an experience. I must have spoken aloud without realising it because Cal suddenly spoke

"It is Bomber, and yeah, once you work out what you want I will go with you. But for now let's feed the beast."

I smiled up at him, kissed his tattoo one last time, snatched the pizza out of his hands and skipped back to the other guys. I found myself being pulled into Bobby's lap this time. He declared it was his time for some Stephanie love. His actions caused Ram to sulk before snagging the largest piece of my pizza right out of my hands.

"That wasn't fair, Ram," I teased, "I thought you loved me." I pulled out my best puppy dog face before faking a sniffle causing Ram to look guilty.

"You know I will share it with you, if you come and sit on my lap again," Ram tried to bargain.

I pouted again as Bobby tightened his hold on me before handing me another piece of pizza. He muttered a soft 'mine' causing the rest of the guys to let out soft growls.

"I belong to all of you."

It was Lester who took that moment to speak. "Do you mean that Beautiful? Do you belong to us? Each and every one of us?"

I thought about it for a moment, remembering my thoughts from earlier, before nodding my head in agreement. "Only if you only belong to me, us, whatever we have. I can't stand having my heart broken again. First Dickie, then Joe and well you all know about Ranger."

I watched as they all nodded their heads before I found myself being turned around so my face was cradled in Bobby's hands. "I can only speak for myself when I say I don't plan on ever letting you go now that I have you. I have loved you for a long time."

I could hear the others agreeing in the background but found myself too busy to respond as Bobby brushed his lips against mine. He tasted of wintergreen lifesavers and beer. I found myself having to pull away in order to breath, only for Lester to capture my mouth with his. By the time I had been passed around, with Hector being the last one to kiss me, I was out of breath and my Hungarian hormones were wide awake and ready to go.

"As much as we want to go further with you Baby, the pizza is getting cold and we want to take things slowly. If we are going to make this work, there are things we need to talk about."

I nodded my head at Ram's words before allowing Bobby to feed me a piece of his pizza. For the first time in weeks I was actually happy and at peace with myself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own but I do play.**

**I wish to say a BIG thank you to Fairtax girl again for editing this chapter and ****LittleInsanity**** who helped with Rex's POV. I also want to express my regards to the beautiful talented writer that is Finacebabe. My heart is with you honey.**

**Enjoy**

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**24 hours earlier- The day of the fire**

Rex's POV

It started out like any ordinary day. My Stephanie got up looking beautiful even though she had spent yet another night with one of those men. Though the ones that had been sleeping with her at least didn't break in, in the middle of the night like the other one did. They also brought me food; the one called Bobby even brought me a new and slightly bigger can to sleep in.

I sat in my can watching as Stephanie walked around still half asleep putting her coffee on before there was a knock on the door. I twitched my noise picking up the unmistakable scent of the one my Stephanie called Hector. He had been coming around a lot lately but he seemed to make my Stephanie happy so I left him be. I even let him pick me up once for a stroke. He applied the right amount of pressure where it mattered something no one had ever managed to do.

After my Stephanie left with Hector, with a quick pat and a piece of donut, I was left to my own devises until I heard the sound of the locks on the door. A moment later the cop that smelled of that wet mutt came into the room. What he was doing here I have no idea. My Stephanie ended it with him after he hurt her; if he ever put a hand or any other body part near me I was going to give him what for.

I watched as he moved through the room and into my Stephanie's bedroom. A moment later my Stephanie's front door open to reveal Bobby and Lester followed by a guy I had never seen before but none of them looked happy. I moved out of my can a bit more and let out a soft squeak causing the new guy to look at me.

"Don't worry Rex. After we have finished with him he won't be coming back here any time soon."

I let out another squeak before looking towards the bedroom where I could hear the sounds of drawers being opened and closed. A few moments later, Joe reappeared only to come face to face with three guns being pointed at him. It was Lester that broke the silence.

"Morelli what the hell are you doing here? I swear Stephanie made it perfectly clear the other day in Pino's that she wanted nothing to do with you ever again."

"It's none of your business. Cupcake is mine, and no matter what anyone else says she will always be mine."

I moved so my face was pressed against the glass waiting for the fun to begin. I didn't have to wait long. I watched as the new guy put his gun away before dropping Joe with one single punch to the jaw. I could see myself liking him. I suddenly found myself being picked up causing me to let out loud squeak before I heard Bobby's voice, just before I sank my teeth into his finger

"Easy Rex, it's only me. We really need to do something about who comes and goes from Steph's apartment. Do you think we could convince her to move in with us?"

"My Cupcake will never move in with the likes of you. Not while she is mine," Joe huffed.

I let out a loud squeak at the muffled voice, as Lester's foot to kick my arch nemesis in the ribs causing him to let out a low grunt as Bobby spoke up

"We better get him out of here before Hector brings Steph back."

Bobby placed me back into my tank and dropped in a small biscuit, as Lester and the other one started to drag Morelli out of the door not caring in the slightest about his well being. I squeaked my approval as they knocked Joe's head against the door frame as they dragged him out of the apartment. The whole time he was threatening to have them all arrested for assaulting a police officer. If only I could get out of my cage I would show him what assaulting an officer really was.

Just as I was trying to work out my escape, I heard my most favourite voice in the whole wide world, my Stephanie. That exact moment I knew that Joe was going to be in deep trouble.

SPOV

Hector and I had just spent the better part of the last two hours chasing one of my FTA's. All was going well until Mr Bianchi decided to not come quietly. What was it with old men and not being able to keep their clothes on? As we were chasing him down the back lane I had one of my Bombshell moments, at Lester calls them, when I tripped and fell into a large stagnant pool of water. It could have only happened to me. Here we were in the middle of one of the hottest, driest summers I could remember and I had to fall face first into the only standing water in Trenton. While I stood there trying to dry off, without looking overly embarrassed by the whole thing, Hector had rounded up my skip, not too gently mind you and had locked him in the SUV.

Hector was then sweet enough to take Mr Bianchi in and get my receipt so I wouldn't have to face the embarrassment, bets and jokes that came from my "friends" at the station. Without saying a word, Hector then drove me back to my apartment to shower and change. The moment we arrived, Hector helped me from the car and pulled me towards the lift. Hector never insisted on me having to use the stairs. The moment the doors opened I could hear the voice of the one person I never wanted to lay eyes on again, Joe Morelli.

The longer I listened to the abusive way Joe yelled at my guys, the more my famous Italian temper started to rise. Ever since my divorce from the Dick, my temper has become well known throughout the Burg. Especially after it took four court deputies to stop me from castrating him in the middle of the court room.

Without thinking of what I was doing, I stormed down the hall leaving Hector to run after me with a slight grin on his face. I found Joe sitting on the floor, with his back against the wall, just outside my apartment with my guys standing over him. For a brief moment I let my hormones come to the surface at how breathtaking Cal, Lester and Bobby all looked in their tight cargo pants and painted on t-shirts.

I was brought back to reality by Joe, who really didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

"Cupcake, I see you are still whoring yourself out to those thugs. I highly suggest that you come to your senses while someone decent still wants you."

Without thinking, my foot shot out landing directly in contact with Joe's boys causing him to curl up on himself as I bent over so my face was level with his

"Listen to me Morelli, I will never be yours. Not now and definitely not when hell freezes over. If I ever hear you refer to my guys as thugs ever again it will take all of them to stop me from killing you and disposing of your body!"

Just then I heard the door to the stairs opened causing me to turn my head to see that Ram and, much to my glee, the chief of police, though why they called him I still had no idea. It was Bobby who answered my question

"We caught him going through your drawers."

Just as I was about to let my foot make contact with his boys again, I found myself being lift off the floor and placed behind a smirking Cal who was shaking his head at me

"Angel, leave it up to the chief. If you kick him again it will be taken as assault. Now why don't you go and wash up then we'll take you out for lunch?"

I smiled up at him before stepping over Morelli and into my apartment. I had a quick shower and walked back into my bedroom only to remember that Morelli had been through my stuff. I felt a shiver run up my spin at the very thought of actually wearing any of my clothes before I had disinfected them and washed them at least four times. This however left me with a slight problem the only clothing I had that Joe hadn't touched were the ones I had been wearing this morning and they were ruined. I heard a knock on my bedroom door just seconds before Bobby stuck his head round the door.

It took everything in me not to let out moan as I watched his eyes darken pitch black as his eyes racked over my body that was wrapped up in my old, worn bath towel. I could feel my hormones start to take over and I found myself walking towards him without thinking about it. I wanted him.

"Trust me Sweetheart, I want you as well but for now we don't have the time. I brought you some clothes that you left at our place when you stayed with Lester and me."

I shook my head to get out of my hormonal trance before taking the bag from his out stretched fingers, blushing as he suddenly pulled me so I was crushed up against his warm chest.

"I meant what I said, I want you. We all do and have since the very first time we laid eyes on you. You are pure and beautiful. Now get dressed before I lose what little control I have."

I let out a little squeak as I felt exactly what he meant, pressing against my hip, before I pulled out of his hold and ran back into my bathroom. I slid to the ground and took some deep breaths to regain some of my dignity. I took one last breath to steady my nerves before opening the bag Bobby had given me.

I was a little surprised to see that it was knee length, deep red dress that I knew wasn't part of my closet. I slowly placed it on the floor only to come face to face with a pair of thigh high boots in a deep storm grey. I took them out noticing that he even provided me with new under garments also in a storm grey colour.

Without thinking about it, I quickly got dressed loving how everything felt as it hit my skin. Something told me that the guys didn't want me to be chasing after any more skips this afternoon. I walked out to find my guys had made themselves at home on various surfaces of my living room. Lester was the first one to see me and from the look that crossed his face, it took everything in me not to jump him there and then.

"You look gorgeous, Beautiful."

I found myself blushing at his words as all the other guys agreed with him. I jumped a little as I felt a warm hand on the base of my back just as Bobby's sweet voice whispered in my ear, "I knew that you would look breathtaking in that outfit. Remember what I told you earlier."

I nodded my head before allowing myself to be pulled out of my apartment.

It turned out that Ram and Hector had the rest of the afternoon off and decided to take me shopping. By the time we arrived back at my apartment, the cleaning fairy had been round and everything had that lovely smell of whatever Ella used to clean with. Hector walked past me, placing the bags that they allowed me to bring home with me in my bedroom, while Ram went about getting us drinks.

The hostess in me felt bad about not helping, but after spending the last six hours walking around in my new boots, my feet were killing me. I couldn't stop the moan that escaped my mouth as the cold air hit them when I took them off. Tilting my head back against the back of the sofa, I closed my eyes as I tried to let the stress from the day leave my body. Don't get me wrong, I had great fun at lunch with my guys, and even more fun shopping with Ram and Hector afterwards, but Bobby's words kept playing in my head.

I never truly realised how dead drop sexy my guys really were nor how often they would find ways of touching me in some way. Whether it was Lester brushing my hair out of my eyes, Bobby's hand on my lower back, Cal kissing me on the forehead, Ram holding my hand or even Hector brushing his fingers down my check.

I jumped a little as I felt a warm pair of hands suddenly touching my feet only relaxing again as Ram's voice filled the air. "Just relax honey. Let us take care of you."

I was trying to work out what he meant by us when I felt Hector work his fingers into my hair giving me a head massage. Yet again I couldn't stop myself from letting out a pleasurable moan which was answered by two very deep and panty soaking growls. I opened my eyes to find myself looking into the pitch black eyes of Hector. Just as I was about to say something both of their phones went off causing the spell to break.

"Sorry honey but it looks like our night off has been cancelled. Why don't you have a shower and get some sleep. You've had a long day."

I nodded my head before letting both of them kiss me on the forehead before they rushed from my apartment as their phones went off a second time. The last thing I actually remembered doing was locking the front door and feeding Rex his dinner. The next thing I knew I was on the pavement in front of my apartment complex watching it burn down.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I am not JE, therefore I don't own any of the characters. I just play with them.**

_Thanks again to Fairtax girl for taking the time to edited my work. I would also like to thank everyone who has been reviewing this story. I am sorry about my lack of response to your reviews. _

B POV

It turned out that the fire at Stephanie's was a pure accident. We had known for ages that the building code wasn't hundred percent and that it was death trap waiting to happen. It was lucky that one of us was always on watch at night. Ram, who was on duty that night, managed to not only raise the alarm but also get everyone out of the building in time.

I carefully untangled myself from the puppy pile, as Steph calls it, and quietly made my way into the kitchen. It was still early but I couldn't find sleep. My head was still too full of the conversation we had last night. Grabbing a bottle of water I made my way over to the little boat dock. I sat at the edge and let the water brush against my feet as I watched the sky slowly turn into dawn.

When I had first laid eyes on Steph, at that first job, I wanted to kill Ranger before taking her and running. From the conversations I had with the others that were there I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Tank, in fact, took Ranger to the mats and pounded the living daylights out of him because of it. I knew if Tank hadn't meet Lula then he would have wanted more with Steph as well.

I jumped a little as a small pair of fingers run through my hair caused me to look up into the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen.

"I woke and couldn't find you. Is everything okay?" Steph asked.

I nodded my head as she slipped down next to me leaning her head against my shoulder. She stole my water and I glared at her playfully.

"What? It's not like you were drinking it. Now what has you awake this early?"

I let out a low sigh before arranging us so I was looking up at the sky and her head was on my chest.

"I couldn't get last night out of my head. I mean even in wildest dream I couldn't imagine you agreeing so readily to being with all of us."

We sat there in silence, listening to the world around awake for a while, before Steph spoke.

"I think I know where you are coming from. I hate talking about my feelings as you know. Hell I am probably worse than Ranger when it comes to admitting anything. During the time I locked myself away from you all after he left I did some serious thinking. He all ways told me the truth about any kind of relationship we would have. He is still my best friend and always will be."

I nodded my head in understanding as she continued to speak.

"My mother, as you know, has all ways pushed me towards Joe. Even knowing the history of abuse that seems to come with any of the Morelli men, she still would rather I be with him than anyone else because he is Burg. As much as I care for my mother I will never be what she wants me to be."

I found myself rolling my eyes, something that before I had met Steph I never did.

"It took me a while to realise it but I find myself falling in love with each and every one of you. None of you try and change who I am. Okay sure you try and get me to eat healthier and push me to exercise more, but that's more to help me grow than to actually change me. Bobby, I am not saying that this is going to be easy but I really want to give this a try."

I moved us so I was hovering over my blue eyed beauty before I lightly kissed her forehead, moved to her eyelids and then her lips. Moving so my forehead touched hers I whispered, "I love you more than you could possible understand. We all do Beautiful. Now it sounds like the others have woken and realised we aren't there."

As soon as the words slipped from my mouth I heard Lester's voice fill the air. "Don't worry I found them."

I found myself swallowing a moan as my blue eyed beauty's laughter vibrated through her body and into mine as Lester, still slightly groggy, shoved his gun into the back of what looked like a pair of my boxers. The man was known to have allergies to actually wearing any kind of under wear.

"Don't do that to us man. At least leave us a note or something. Now, Cal is making us coffee and I am craving some of your pancakes man. So stop hogging Steph and get your ass into the kitchen."

S POV

I found myself laughing so hard that tears started to run down my face at Lester's and Bobby's childish behaviour. After last night and the small talk I just had with Bobby I need to laugh.

After dinner last night, Tank phoned with the fire report. Turns out it was some issue with some kind of wiring or something. All I knew was that for once it wasn't my fault. Even though, from what Tank had heard, both Joe and my mother were still blaming it on me and my job. The talk afterwards wasn't what I expected. I spent a lot of time being held by Hector crying as they each explained when they started to fall in love with me.

Finding out that Bobby and Lester both wanted to kill Ranger for bring me to the redecorating job the first time made me want to defend Ranger. Lester put a stop to that before I even opened my mouth

"Beautiful listen to me before you try and explain the bosses actions to us. I had spent many a night listening to Ranger argue with himself over you. From your very first meeting you had his well- constructed world in chaos. You were his rabbit hole as it were. So that night when you got out of his car and he put his cap on your head, to say I was shocked was understatement. But at the time I thought you knew what to expect. The reason we wanted to kill him was the fact that he didn't tell you exactly what to expect. He led you in there blind, we were just lucky you weren't killed in the process."

I suddenly found myself being thrown over Lester shoulder as he slapped me lightly on my ass causing me to let out a low squeak. I couldn't find it in me to complain about being man handled considering the view I currently had. If I thought his ass looked great in his cargos, it was nothing compared to the way the silk stretched over it now as he walked. I wished I could sink my teeth into it.

I hadn't realised I had said anything until Ram's voice floated through the air.

"Sweetheart I didn't take you as a biter but it's useful to know for later on. Now I have some bad news for you all. Tank just called we have been summoned back to Trenton. The boss flew in this morning like a hurricane and ordered everyone back including Steph."

I couldn't stop the groan that left my mouth at the fact that not only had I nowhere to live, but the only clothes I currently owned were a black t-shirt and a pair of boxers that I had stolen off Ranger. It was Cal who answered my worries

"Tank had Ella fix you up an apartment and some clothes until your insurance check comes in. He has also partnered you with Binkie until further notice as well. That mainly has to do with the fact that he won't allow anyone of us to be with you. But it also seems that the sly old dog has been keeping secrets from us. Lula is pregnant."

I could feel the tears running down my face at his words. After what happened to her Lula's because of me, her doctor said she could never have children. It seemed he was wrong. I found myself being surrounded on all sides by my guys as the tears continued to fall.

After a slightly cold and burnt breakfast, due to my break down over Tank's and Lula's happy news, Cal brought me a change of clothes that Ella had given him for me last night. After a quick argument over who I would be driving back with, I was in Cal's 1965 Chevrolet-Corvette-Grand or so he told me. All I knew was it was low, fast and screamed Cal all the way down to the custom paint job of the flaming skull on the hood. The closer we got to Trenton the more nervouse I became. Why on earth had Ranger suddenly dropped everything in Miami and flown back to Trenton?

Was it because of what was happening between the guys and me? But then again it was all new for all of us, what with us working it all out last night. Was it due to the pregnancy? Maybe Tank wanted time off to look after Lula? Or maybe like my mother and Joe he thought that what happened to my apartment wasn't an accident.

Those were the last thoughts which ran through my head. The next thing I heard was the sound of wheels squealing before the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air. Everything then went black.

C POV

I came to in the hospital to the sound of yelling followed by my hospital door being thrown open by an enraged looking Ranger, who was followed by Tank. I tried to sit up only stopping when Ranger indicated for me to stay still. The last thing I remembered was a car running through a red light hitting the passenger side. Stephanie.

I heard the heart monitor start to beep faster as I started to fight the tubes that were keeping me tied to the bed. I needed to get to my Angel. I needed to know that she was all right before I hunted down the bastard that had hit us. I suddenly found my arms being pinned to the bed by Ranger as I noticed a young nurse checking my vitals before fleeing the room.

"You need to calm down. You won't be any help to Steph if you don't allow yourself to heal properly."

I took a deep breath before relaxing enough that Ranger thought it would be okay to let me go and move to lean against the wall while Tank moved to the chair next to the bed. I winced as the metal frame let out a protest to his weight before getting used to it.

"You were lucky. A few broken ribs, your right leg is broken and you had a concussion"

I nodded my head not caring about what happened to me. I've had worse on training missions. I waited for him to continue. After we sat there in silence for a few moments I turned my head and glared at him. I watched as he rubbed the top of his head, a habit he only did when he really didn't want to say what he was about to.

"Stephanie is in worse shape than you. At the moment she is a medically induced coma as her spine heals. She will also have scaring across her face as well as over her chest and legs from where the side of the car dug into her. Bobby said later on they can do cosmetic surgery on them but for now she will have to live with them. The biggest fight she will have on her hands now however is going to be emotionally. The guy who hit you was none other than Joe Morelli. He was driving under the influence during work hours. The Chief of police has arrested him and thrown the book at him as well as put a restraining order on both him and Mrs Plum from coming near Stephanie."

I could hear my heart beat increasing again causing the nurse to pop her head round the door with a worried look on her face. Ranger moved blocking her view before whispering something to her before the door closed again. Once Ranger had move back to his spot Tank continued to talk.

"Ella has set up the room next to Bobby's so he can keep an eye on her. We have been made aware of what is happening between all of you but the others all agree it was for the best."

I nodded my head. I couldn't think of anywhere better to have her while she was healing.

"One last thing Cal. The Plum family, minus Mrs Plum, will be moving into one of the safe houses for now. It seems that Mr Plum has a hidden history and it's now coming back to bit him in the ass."

I nodded my head one more time. So our princess was yet again in the line of fire but for once she wasn't at fault.


End file.
